Apparatus for treating fibrous material



F. B. STBATFORD. APPARATUSFOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL.

1,436,735. AIPPLICATION FILED JULY 1 1, 19 l 7. Patented NOV. 28

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F. B. STRATFORD. APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL. APPUCATXON FILED JULYH, 19 17..

1,43 6,735. Patented Nov. 28, 1922 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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arranarus non Tan erine rIBnoUs marnnien Application filed July 11,.

To aZZwlwmc't may concern: Be it known that l, FRANK B. Srnnrronn, a citizen of the United States,"residing at Jersey City, in the countyof Hudson'and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Apparatus for Treating Fibrous Material, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawmg. a 1

My invention relates to improvements in the treatment of hemp, jute, flax or other fibrous material such as may be used in the manutacture of oakum and othermaterials, and has particular reference to an apparatus for separating and impregnating thehemp,

. The hemp is usually received in bales which have been compressed under high pressure and it requires considerable hard labor to open and prepare the hemp for use and for subsequent treatmentsuch as in the case where oakum-is to be manufactured. To this end one of the objects of my invention is to release the bales othemp from the'binders and then subject the same to a proper mixture of tar which impregnates the hemp as the released bale expands after which it is passed to suitable heating chambers.

In the accompanying drawing marked Fig. 1, I have illustrated in perspective with parts broken away, a suitable apparatus for carrying out a preferred application of my invention, Fig. 2 illustrates suitable appara tus for predetermining the amount of tar to be used in each bale.

2 indicates a suitable chamber provided with tracks such as 3 and a cable such as l torconveying suitable cars such as 6 therethrough, and 7 indicates the inlet doors and 8 the outlet door therefrom, 9 indicates a suitable partition as hereinafter more fully referred to.

10 indicates a barrel of tar or other suitable material which may be rolled along the floor 11 and after the bung has been removed therefrom, the barrel may be rolled over a suitable hole or outlet 12 through the floor connected by the pipe 13 which supplies the tank 1a with the tar from the barrel. 15 indicates a suitable pipe connected with an air pressure tank 16 which may be supplied with air from a suitable motor pump such as 17, so that the compressed air pressing down upon the tar within the tank 14 driyes the same upwardly through the outlet pipe 17, it being of course understood that a suiti917." semi No. 130,029,

able valve such as 18 may be provided, so that after the tar from the barrel 10 has passed into the tank 14, the pipe 13 may be shut off to prevent driving. the tar back from the tank 14: into the barrel 10, thus. causing the tar to pass upwardly into the heating chamber 18 provided with suitable coils such as 19ied by the steam pipe 20 from the radiator 21. 1 1 indicates a suitable valve in the pipe 17. A

After a bale oi hemp has been released from its ties orbinders, it is dropped into a cart which is sufficiently large inside to allow for the separation and expansion of the bale. This car is then pushedor drawn rightwardly through the doors 7 into the chamber 21. The tar from the tank l-ithaving been fed into the heating chamber 18 is now sufficiently liquefied to feed downwardly through the tube22 subject to the valve22" into a suitable discharging device troduced into the chamber 21, the first car t then occupies the position of the car indicatedby the reference character 27, and then to the position occupied by the car indicated by the reference character 28, and so on until each car is successively passed out of the oven 2 through the door 8 and during its passage through the oven the hemp is further heated by the steam coils 21 thus further separating and loosening the hemp and further impregnating the same with the liquid tar thereupon.

In this way the hemp is separately and thoroughly saturated or impregnated without the necessity of manual labor or me chanical effort in separating the originally tightly compressed bale, thus reducing the labor and time, and preserving the fibre, while at the same time treating the material in a thorough and competent manner.

While the tank 1 1 is shown beneath the floor 11., it will be of course readily underrangement of any of the parts may be provided for and that modifications may be made in the construction or parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 2 it will be observed that instead of feeding the liquid tar directly from the tank '18 upon the fibrous material. it may feed from said tank through a suitable pipe provided with a series of valves hereinafter referred to and from the header 30 feeds into the barrels 3l-82 and therefrom to the pipe 33 from which it is discharged. by any suitable spray or discharge device through the pipe 34. The flow of the liquid tar or'other impregnating material from the tank 18 to the barrels 31 32 is controlled by the valves referred to, the valves 35-36 being float-valves suitably connected to the floats 37-38 for controlling the height of the liquid in the barrels 31--32 and the valves 39- 10 being suitably connected by rods or other suitable means 43lt as shown to the valves ll l2 upon the outlet pipe 33 from which it will be seen that the predetermined amount of impregnating liquid may be controlled for each bale of fibre treated. That is to say, when a bale is to be treated beneath the outletEA the valve 41 is opened, which being connectedto the valve 39 automatically closes the same thereby allowing the liquid within the barrel 31 to escape through the outlet 34. When the next bale is to be treated the valve 41 isv closed thereby opening the valve 39 and allowing the barrel 31 to refill. At the same time the valve 42 is opened thereby automatically closing the valve allowing the contents of the barrel'32 to be used, the barrel 31 having filled to the predetermined level again and having cut off its supply through the valve 3 5 is now ready again to impregnate another bale and so on, thus providing suitable means for predetermining and regulating the amount of liquid tar or. other material'to be used, in each bale.

The doors 7 may be omittedbut the opening in the partition 9 is preferably closed while the cars are in the chamber 2.

I claim: I

Means for treating successive masses of fibrous material in a loose and; unorganized state with predetermined quantities of trea ing material comprising successive chambers into which said fibrous material is fed, means for charging said fibrous material with said, treating material in the first of said chambers, means for heating said fibrous material in the other of said chambers thereafter, and means in combination with said first chamber for charging the same directly'from" the original'container of said treating material.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

/ FRANK B; STRATFORD. Witnesses:

ET GARDNER,

Trio s A. HILL' 

